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Curt Vendel has passed away. :(


Albert

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On 9/7/2020 at 4:12 PM, Albert said:

Curt Vendel's family has created a GoFundMe campaign to help with his daughter's college education. Curt was a stalwart figure in the classic gaming community, spending countless hours digging up and sharing information for over 30 years via his AtariMuseum.com website. To say nothing of all the people he helped in various ways over that time. Please consider contributing if you are able. 

 

https://www.gofundme.com/f/24lkoij26o

I just wanted to take a moment and echo what Albert said a few days ago.

 

Curt has been battling health issues for many years.  Unfortunately, his medical situation has made him “nuclear” in the eyes of the insurance world.  In short, despite attempts for many years, no life insurance company would issue him a policy.

 

Curt’s passing could not have come at a worse time for his daughter, Madison.  I have been in contact with Michele’s Father, Ralph, every day this week including a lengthy discussion at the funeral home.  The immediate financial situation for Madison’s education is not good.  Having recently graduated high school back in the spring, she is entering her Freshman year of college right now.  This is always a difficult time for teens making that life transition, but it is worse for her having to deal with the loss of her Father.  Plus, with the loss of Curt’s income & no life insurance to back him up, this creates some issues with the short & long range funding of her education.

 

I spoke with Madison at the funeral home on Monday 9/7.  This was the first time I have spoken with her since she was six.  I was immediately struck by what a bright & articulate young woman she is.  I think she can achieve anything in life that she sets her mind to…assuming she can get off on the right foot with her education.  Curt & Michele have done an incredible job raising her.  There is no doubt in my mind that both are proud of her.

 

Curt touched ALL of us in some way, directly or indirectly.  I’d like to ask that all members of the community consider making a contribution to Madison’s education fund at the link below.  Yes, the timing of this sucks as everyone is dealing with their own money problems in a COVID-19 world.  EVERY DOLLAR FOR MADISON HELPS.

 

Let’s honor Curt by investing in his only child.

 

https://www.gofundme.com/f/24lkoij26o 

Edited by mstulir
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Wow, I haven't been checking forums recently so I just learned of this today. While Marty and I worked together several times, I only met Curt in person once -- but communicated with him over email on a few occasions. His passion for Atari history always came through.  This is just a terrible loss all around.

 

Thanks for posting the GoFundMe link.  I encourage anyone who can afford a contribution to make one. 

 

I am just so tired of 2020.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I gave money to Curt's family gofundme, but really wanted to do more.  I decided to sell some of my stuff that is just collecting dust on a shelf and donate the proceeds to his family.  If your interested in this new in box copy of Princess Rescue, please bid.  All money goes to Madison's college fund.

 

 

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@Andrew Davie and I have decided to sell 3 of our PlusCarts with very rare prototype casings and donate the proceeds to Curt's family GoFundMe campaign. These 3 PlusCarts are the last of the first 50 PlusCarts and the first to actually be sold.

Additionally Andrew Davie will 3D-print and send the very latest PlusCart Shell using the preferred colour scheme of the auction winner. So, the winner of the auction will receive two shells -- a rare prototype, and the very latest version.

For all interested in biding, here are the ebay links:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/114444162453

https://www.ebay.com/itm/114444178613

https://www.ebay.com/itm/114444188600

 

 

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On 9/30/2020 at 4:21 PM, tep392 said:

I gave money to Curt's family gofundme, but really wanted to do more.  I decided to sell some of my stuff that is just collecting dust on a shelf and donate the proceeds to his family.  If your interested in this new in box copy of Princess Rescue, please bid.  All money goes to Madison's college fund.

 

 

The auction has ended and I was able to sell it for $237.50.  Not too bad!  Donation has been made to Curt's family. ? 

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I removed the post in extremely poor taste about Curt's house that also revealed his address.  I also kicked the user out of this thread.  If I see anything like that again, I will simply ban the individual responseible from AtariAge permanently without warning.

 

 ..Al

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On 10/3/2020 at 11:01 PM, Al_Nafuur said:

@Andrew Davie and I have decided to sell 3 of our PlusCarts with very rare prototype casings and donate the proceeds to Curt's family GoFundMe campaign. These 3 PlusCarts are the last of the first 50 PlusCarts and the first to actually be sold.

Additionally Andrew Davie will 3D-print and send the very latest PlusCart Shell using the preferred colour scheme of the auction winner. So, the winner of the auction will receive two shells -- a rare prototype, and the very latest version.

For all interested in biding, here are the ebay links:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/114444162453

https://www.ebay.com/itm/114444178613

https://www.ebay.com/itm/114444188600

The auction has ended and we were able to sell them for EUR 178,09 (about $210).  Donation has just been made to the GoFundMe campaign.

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Oh, man...I am just hearing about Curt's passing a month-and-a-half after it happened.  I hadn't checked the AtariAge forums since mid-summer and thought I would take a look at the XM thread on the 7800 forum for updates and saw the sad, sad, news.  RIP, Curt...I never got to meet you, but your passion on these forums was infectious and inspiring!

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  • 1 month later...
9 hours ago, jgkspsx said:

I had been wondering how the fundraiser is going. Not so well - it stalled out at $20k. I’m going to kick in a bit more this week and I hope some other folks can too. 
 

https://www.gofundme.com/f/24lkoij26o

 

I'm actually saving quite a bit for it. Not sure I'll be able to match what Joe Decuir did but I at least want to go for 4 digits. That GoFundMe bookmark is at the top of my list.

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  • 2 weeks later...

it might make sense to try to turn this into an annual campaign: try to raise $20k or $25k every year for four years.

 

not as good as $100k in one drop, but more manageable and it would go a long way towards helping his daughter through college.

 

we would need to talk to existing donors and ask if they could commit to making their donations annual for a few years and try to spread out the word a little bit.

 

altnernate;e, we could ask people to make small monthly contributions.  there are a bunch of different ways to do this.

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